Greetings friends and family...not even sure if you guys read this stuff anymore; as it is turning into a diary of sorts (thus Singapore Diaries?)...I hope this finds you all well...as I mentioned, I wrote a lot on my little holiday, ended up with a lovely case of food poisoning on the last day...not so lovely actually...exactly what I didn't want to do, lose more weight...at any rate...just figured I would post some of this stuff for your potential reading enjoyment...this one is a bit random, introspective...and all over the place...but guess what? who cares...haha...ok, the pics will follow, I just wanted to get this one posted as yes, sorry...there is more to come from this little fun last week adventure...re-reading what I wrote, the temptation to edit profoundly is there, but I don't, I leave it mostly the way it is...I hope you get something out of this...I did and I do...especially the store about "Adam" in here...WOW...what a trippy guy...kind of intense for a "Dylan" blog post...but alas...interesting anyway...
Ok…yesterday was quite a day; not sure I got to finish my little moped adventure…but you will see pics that are sure to make you look twice; one in particular b/c I am sure my mom is reading this and saying…”you went on a moped ride, with your host/owner of the place to go shopping, on the back of his moped, are you crazy?”
At any rate, the last part of the question remains to be seen, not sure, kidding…but really…it was quite a mini tour…the only thing I wish is that I could somehow get the name of the little places we got to stop by, the name of the bridge you will see…we actually stopped by his home and got a picture of his father and either a friend or brother as he called them all family…all broken English aside…I asked how long the trip would take and he he shrugged, either “I don’t know” or “I have no idea what you are asking”…so I asked “Asep” the younger kid looking guy (who I perceive to be gay by the lovely glances in my direction…to the handsome “American”…ok, I am sorry, I find the handsome part more funny than the gay guy comment more funny and it has nothing to do with my self esteem”…he pointed to his watch and said that it would “probably” be one hour…haha…I should have known better…as some of you know…I had time to email you, blackberry messenger Gaylin (granted you were all sleeping, ha…, you will learn to love the buzzing of your cell when it is me, kidding…turn em on silent or be prepared for a Dylan intrusion if they go to ur cell)…anyway, 2.5 hours later…the journey consisted of mini stops…
I asked how long the journey to the store was, and he said about 20km…ok, no problem on a scooter that probably went a max of 35 to 40 mph (60km/hr…you do the math) and what he meant was 20 km each direction…haha…no worries it was fun…
I asked how long the journey to the store was, and he said about 20km…ok, no problem on a scooter that probably went a max of 35 to 40 mph (60km/hr…you do the math) and what he meant was 20 km each direction…haha…no worries it was fun…
So, we drive over this bridge (see picture) that was just an amazing sight…houses along the river bank that flows to the beach, people would have to walk to their (I have to watch my grammar as my English major father is correcting me/watching my every syllable apparently, thought it was funny I spelled ferry “fairy” the first time, haha, no worries…but thanks, lol, laughing out loud pop) huts on what are essentially “planks” (and yes, I have already experienced these “planks”, Sularto stopped for a second to let me snap a couple of pics, though in my want to move this exciting journey along…I only took a few to make the point, after all, as my good friend/best friend, and camera provider (yes, Scotty, you friend), lol….has often said when I didn’t have a camera, “Dylan, chill, some of the best memories are kept here, for you…(as he would point to his head)”…and he is right, they are, but I do my best to show you guys…being the non-photo pro…the camera is doing the work…it has probably “seen” far more than I could have ever imagined…(yes, I am talking about the camera…or he who personifies everything non human, (dad, did I say that correctly?)…
First stop…a market…what I perceive to be the main purpose of our trip…turns out he is buying cigarettes for another guest, four packs of Marlboro lights no less (I would think enough for a couple of months, not so for a Chinese guest here for the CNY, Chinese new Year)…I get a couple of pics of the outside of the store, cruise around for a second, no intention of buying anything..and come to a display in the store (end isle cap, type of thing, ie: box of powdered s***); trying to read the sign, I will let you decide…(see pics of container with bags of white powder and sign with relative pricing)…I presumed it to be sugar…but hey, made for an interesting site in a grocery store with all we read about in this world today, lol…ok, so I get off track here in there..I did say stream of conscious writing, didn’t I? haha…
***btw (by the way) as I write this stuff, I am obviously interjecting some personal thought and recollection of things that come to mind, be it a way some of you have touched or impacted my life, a thought it leads me to get off track or a memory something will remind me of, after all, this is an adventure….point in case…Gaylin says, “you write as though you are very single”…how do I respond to that…my thought I have just had as an example is when you read a book, think the author is some incredible person (ok, not saying this is me or anything silly people, just an example), just saying, at the end of the book you will read something like, “David Baldacci is the author of fifteen previous consecutive NY times bestsellers….blah, blah, blah, he and his wife are still residents of Virgina where they live with the X kids...blah, blah, blah...and they invite you to to visit him on www.davaidbaldacci.com you get the point…it is my story so, alas, it is not in his novel (my blog) you learn this, you learn it all post script…got it now babe? Kk, no worries, haha…yes, I also have two beautiful children Madison and Aidan who reside in Colorado at the current…fair enough (but I have not written one NYT best seller and probably don't intend too, may write a novel...hey, you are reading it, but certainly not best seller materal, haha?
Haha…can’t believe I even just put this in here…oh well, again, I have really stopped living for other people (ie: less my family, lol) and doing things not necessarily in a selfish manner, but living life for me, where I am, and in the now…less you haven’t noticed that by now…crap, this is gonna be a long post…so, it may be posted in bits and pieces…haha… or Chapters, crap, I will decide when the power turns back on in Bin Tan, thus I can’t even charge my phone to communicate with the world, thank goodness my laptop is charged, thank you Craigs list…haha, love it, 290 bucks…mini ACER…my word processer, skype phone, web cam, email service…and lifeline to all things USA, lol…moving on….
So, “Sularto” my guide/host/manager of the property….discovers I am a doctor and so now, instead of the normal “mister” this and “mister that”, it is now “doctor mister”, haha…I can’t help but chuckle at this…Sularto is always apologizing for his English…you learn that some things are universal….a shrug, a thumbs up, an “A-OK”…it all conveys the universal “no worries” ; after all, where do I have to be…well, nowhere and precisely nowhere fast…so our journey continues with “Doctor Mister, ready!? (a question or a command, still don’t know)”…I shrug…and in no time I am on the back of the scotter/moped/moto bike (I am really not sure because it is faster than any moped I recall and slower than a motorcycle (mom, if you are gonna ask if I was wearing a helmet, I will try not to smile to give away my answer, but a: they didn’t have them and b: wait until you see some of the crazy pics of people on these things, I will probably post the one with the small baby in the middle (yes, three on one bike) and the dad driving and the mom holding baby…)the part you will not like is I took this picture while I was on the back of our motorbike…but hey…I lived…no scrapes, no bruises, no “Morgans in Thailand once or even twice for that matter, lol…cousin, I couldn’t resist…(I will probably get food poisoned for that comment now, won’t I and freakin "A", low and behold I did, lovely Karma huh? ok, sorry cuz but that sucked sh**), lol…see you all impact me somehow…and I love you all for it…I only hope I make some sort of positive impression to you as well… if that is still feasible..
Not so quick insert regarding my ferry ride and profound experience (see pics of boats/views, Adam/et. al.):
On the ferry, my new friend, “Adam” a muslim man; he says, “Doc (I think I have a name tag at this point), I will tell you a story, this story I don’t share very often, but he continues…when I saw you in the duty free store, so full of life, they way you communicated to the clerk in the store, he says, “This guy, I have to know this guy…he (this being me) is so full of life (shocking, yes, a: he is talking about me?? And b: wtf…he was watching me? Lol…retrospectively, all very complimentary):
We meet in the line as we are prepared to board the ferry…he is a congenial man…quiet on the surface as my Singaporeans are, muslim no less, perhaps moreso on the surface, but, “Adam”, is a great guy…who owns/works for a supplement company of all things…more on that later…stuff for joints, all natural, some I have not even heard of…and directs me to a website I have put in my cell so I won't forget...
At any rate, “Adam” shares this story with me and yes, I am changing topics once again (and this is very deeep and random for me too) and will need to fit this in somewhere on my 90 page blog, lol…(see pic of Adam, small Chinese man, big personality), says, “I don’t share this story very often”, he continues…"But, close your eyes and listen to this for a minute” (afraid of puking on the ferry, I cringe at the thought, but, shit, why not…), eyes closed... he now says, “Visualize this, you are at a funeral/wake, mulling about, listening to the people speak of the person whose life is no longer…it is getting close to your turn to view the body, yet you will only be able to see the face…the things you hear of the other person, they really no longer matter, BUT, it is how they are remembered (profound shit for a ferry ride no less, but hey, in the blog as I thought it was pretty profound, thank you Adam!, but I truly believe I cross paths with people for a reason, thank you Adam, more on his supplement company later, perhaps...)
The story continues, …"The good things they did, the not so good…do you like what you hear?…it is almost time to view the face of the body…are you even concerned about what is being said?” he asks…, eyes closed, I nod, …"Sure"…I am intrigued…where could this be going…
At any rate, he continues, “You are next, next to view the face of the diseased…you have heard all the things people have said, obviously you even have some thoughts about this person yourself, especially at this point, your own thoughts aside of the diseased…so, you are next…you get to the face, immediately fix your gaze on the person in the casket…perplexed you look…
Immediately confused yet with a new awareness, you see YOUR FACE…” (ok, wow, what a freakin point), “He continues, “what do you think, how will people remember you? Do you care? You are dead after all, what does it matter?
Immediately confused yet with a new awareness, you see YOUR FACE…” (ok, wow, what a freakin point), “He continues, “what do you think, how will people remember you? Do you care? You are dead after all, what does it matter?
He continues, “Doc, when I first heard this story, I thought to myself at that very moment not to long ago, that life is for living and I am in charge of my life…no one else…sure people impact it, but things I decide, I decide for me, not for “them”…so, will you live your life for others (I answer some yes, others no); he nods in agreement…but the point being…life is for living, live it…a theme in life I have often shared, now more than ever…as I travel, a diplomat of my profession as a chiropractor, spreading the word of chiropractic with honesty and integrity in order to "spread the word" as chiropractors say in SE Asia of sound chiropractic care…my "Gonstead" technique of Chiropractic is just a bonus for me, for that is another path I chose long ago... Caring for others with a form of health care with no drugs or surgery, with the ability to help others heal…body, mind and spirit…something I have learned, now again, more than ever, to not take lightly and now pursue with a new-found passion for my “job”/life choice/career…so with that, I urge you all to follow your heart and as "Adam" would say, “God willing”…you will find your way, but do today, what you dream of, life is after all, for living…live it…(lovely "little" insert huh?)...
Back to INDO story:
So, back on the bike I am and off we go…until “mister doctor, I will stop, let you take photo of mangral grove…(no mangos, a lot of swampy land/marsh land/mud swamps/red dirt and a body of water with some probably profound name saying “if you have been dropped off here, be very concerned”, lol…really, it was quite a site (see pictures of “the plank I walked”, the guy fishing (for what type of fish in mud I do not know…, the tree, Sularto on his phone, ironically at one point, taking video of me on the little walk I got to see later, ok, a little disconcerting, but nonetheless, that is him, as curious as me and a very welcoming person/man…) additional pics of motorbike, me on motorbike as taken by him and perhaps another self portrait) ***
***I will probably leave these little notes here as they cue me to put what pic where b/c as it is, I am probably on page eight of this lovely novel and if I really want you to read this, I have to come up with a couple of ways to do it. By days? Hours? Adventures? No, the last would be too long…chapters perhaps with day stamps..we will see what I decided, who knows, could be left as is…want you to read it, perhaps either wanting more to know or actually have questions post script…quite the writer I have become, lol….btw, my assistant “Amy” got me the reservation as she was giving it up to go somewhere else; otherwise, I would be in a very dead and boring, shut down, Singapore as they celebrated Chinese New Year with their respective families (which would have been fine, but this is a heck of a lot more fun and cheap too, I will tell you how much as soon as I find out@!!! Haha.., all I know is that in Indo, things change in that regard, in Sg, they negotiate everything…in Indo, they may quote x initially, to get you in the door, but on check out (as I heard a guest go through this already, as I was sitting within ears range and yes, mine “work well” as you know, all piano playing aside, but she was on the phone literally next to me in the common eating area (see pic of the “kitchen area”)…so I got to hear the conversation of “that was not what you originally quoted”…as for me…I didn’t come with a lot of money, crap, I don’t have a lot of money at the moment anyway, so, they will get what I planned for and be happy with “mister, doctor”…haha…we will see… in time.
Ok, where was I…next little adventure…Sularto says…I have to make a business stop…ok (I am thinking, what, is this man in finance, international business of some sort…bottom line, I am on his dime/time and his moto bike no less, I am his guest…whatever he has to do, I am along for the ride…and that is fine)…translation of business:
Next stop is apparently his house (see pics of house/chickens/cats)…I ask him for a glass of water and we pick up this fruit from a friend (he said we were getting chicken?) and it is like lychee, but not a lychee, the kind a prickly skin…but inside, it tastes the same…I know this b/c naturally, he insists I try it…and to my delight, it is is just great!
AGAIN: ***my apologizes in advance as a lot of this blends together as my time since getting here has all blended together as working twelve hour days with no day off until this trip can do that to a person, especially a person who wasn’t (see mom, WASN;T) sleeping well…we will see about that when I get “home”…which Singapore (Sg/Sing) is, our new home…
Ok…back to the house…he says, “Mister, Doctor”, you wait ten minutes…I am immediately thinking, "Crap, me, wait here? “Ok I say, no problem, thumbs up”, I will sit and wait and answer an email to you guys Anton and Diana and write Gaylin to check in…lest I get lost entirely in Indo…haha…not gonna happen…with my great sense of direction.
Again, me waiting meant, he is sending "the boy" to get food, we will wait, he hands me the Indonesian phrase book (“Aseps” visit just tells me his name is Susy and is Sularto’s son…the pic is then of Sularto, Susy and Sularto’s Father…quite a pic…they loved the fact they could all see it instantly…amazing, crap, I loved the photo opportunity too!
***that was funny, “Asep” the probably twenty year old (I later learn 28...he looks like a kid!) or so (granted I can’t tell the age of a person in SE Asia to save my life, thank goodness I don’t have too) had just stopped by the bench I have now called my office for the moment (see pic with bench and computer) to write this and was essentially intrigued by the computer, then, knowing his English is less than ideal, "Asep", did in fact recognize his name in the script of this post (yes, this novel rather) and what followed were several questions about it and no worries…next I showed him pics that Morgan had taken of me, he was intrigued, now wants copies, oh joy…not a problem, he wants me to SMS/text them to him, instead I said I would email them, but at any rate, he doesn’t have email…besides, what do I really care…he means well, pure innocence of not so great English…the point of his visit…”When do I leave?", and he is leaving for the morning to have half a day off and will be back in the afternoon, not to mention, he won’t be serving breakfast, “Ms. Annie” will…simply was an FYI to me…nice guy, like I said, they all mean well and are essentially, great people; after all…we are their guests…I say we b/c I am not the only one here…from the couple I met from Singapore, my three German neighbors (two Thomas and one Andre, who is fried from the son by the way, which perplexes me as the rays are not so hot per se, just penetrating apparently)...you get the point...
Last night, I met Ben, an Engineer in Singapore (he says, not a prestigious profession or lucrative for that matter, but much needed in Singapore, so I don’t quite get why it could be a field with demand, but not pay well, everything in Singapore (mostly) pays very well; relatively speaking that is…, Ben, has been there for three years…plays soccer on Sundays and upon learning I play, has since exchanged info with me and asked me to come play with them (um, on the "French squad, and yes, granted they have a US one, though learning the level I played, he wants me to play with his team...haha, keep you posted on that one, ever the patriot, lol)…that we will see, with all my free time, I have already lost a ton of weight, from this jet lag and not eating properly (until now mom, until now) and not sleeping…again, previously (mom, they are all pokes at ya in fun and and love…no worries…)…
Ok, I was trying to tell a story here (which just reminded me of something…I told Gaylin I was getting tired of hearing myself talk with all the new patients and explaining chiropractic and she says “Finally!” (ie: apparently I talk too much, lol); yes, we had a good laugh, but this is my story, so, too bad, I am the author, so I get the editorial privilege…same goes for my photos…haha…ie: when you take a pic of someone and they don’t like it b/c “they” don’t look good…if I like it…it stays…haha…
Ok.. back to the stop of his house…
Not so steady in a stop he calls/or what sounded like “mangal grove”/perhaps I can look that one up, but for now…all I can say was the dirt was like the red dirt you see in Maui…so I presume, it stains like a mother…anyway; take a look at the pics…you will be able to figure out where some of this is via my lovely descriptors..and the manner in which I post them…haha…you will all tell me in time I suppose…my only concern at this point is a: I am certainly not gonna go back and editorialize this stuff and b: it is gonna be long from this little adventure to Indonesia/Bin Tan Island…such is life…remember, as Adam says, live it...or in my case...write it down too, lol...
Anyway, we finish the motorbike ride since Susy has brought back the chicken and fish (or so I am told) and head back…the drive of the motorbike, fun, wind blowing in my face, just glad I brought my sunglasses…I point to his fuel guage, which is now very low…he says, “Oh yes, thanks!” (great, I am being the responsible one here?)…we pull off to get some petro/gas…though I will tell you now, you would have never guessed it was a gas station for that matter…
Upon pulling in, an elderly lady with a small baby comes out, so I ask if I can take their photo, she nods…either yes or no, either way, she is getting her pic taken (see pic of grandma with baby in front of gas station)…
We carry on…all fueled up, snapping more pics as I ride on the scooter and 20km later, we are back…this time…I am tired…so I head to the beach to relax and listen to the waves (see pic of beache, huts, views)…
This morning I wake, to write some of this stuff down, at least I am doing some of it now so I don’t forget…wow, it truly is an adventure…and suddenly realize I cannot possibly write all of this stuff down…omg…oh well…I did want to add a couple of things…”Mr. Lobo” and his “Shady shack” are quite nice people, he has been in operation for ever twenty years and at current, he is running for some form of the Indo Parliament I believe (real quick...he and his wife? have lived there for a long time and have six kids! His youngest.."Aldo"...cutie that he is playing Dominos (see pic...all coming eventually)...I know this because there is a poster of him with some writing…(pic pending…don’t want to forget this…so, one more little story and then I am getting tired…good a nap be in my immediate future…nice…very nice)…all this and an ipod to tune out the already tuned out world…I am in a state of bliss…new friends, great food, a bed, the lovely shower (see picture)…the list goes on….and then, this thought...I can only wonder, which one of you will be my first visitor at times…ha, we will see…the spa awaits, the spa awaits, just a 20 hour flight and you are here…haha…and if you are ever so fortunate, you will fly in the upper deck of the 747 as I was so shockingly upgraded, for my smile I think Morgan, not sure, lol…
Another couple I meet is Joavien…she is a pilates instructor/dance choregrapher…here with her husband, Yong Hua (pronounced young huah) who works with the Singaporean Air Force as a “Technician” for sixteen years…they have already invited me back to there house in Sing for a “house party” one day soon… (ie: BBQ?)…
Life is great even with the crazy work schedule and flood of new patients…love your notes…from Facebook to the emails…thanks to you all…be well and take care…much love, much love…
God Bless,
Dylan (“mister doctor” for now….)
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